I know you cannot set a PR every time you race, but you may possibly set a PR at most every event. You just may have to be a little creative and look for the opportunity. Case in point, the Ocean State Marathon where I was the first person in line at the pre race pasta dinner. I wasn’t just the first runner in line; I was the first person in line. As the old saying goes, all is fair in love and war, so I didn’t even give it a second thought when I cut my wife off and handed over my meal ticket and grabbed the first plate and started to load up on the pasta. I know this is stretching it as a PR, but when PR’s come so few and far between you really have to look for the unique PR.

The 10th Annual Ocean State Marathon (OSM) was run entirely within the city of Providence. The first 9 OSM started in Warwick and ran to Providence with the last 10 miles being run in Providence. I spoke with the OS race director Saturday before the marathon and he claimed that the new course was quite a bit more difficult then the old course. The old course was fairly flat for the first 16 miles and when you get to Providence you hit the hills. Since the first 10 miles of the new course is fairly hilly and mile 16 through 26.2 is the same as in previous years, the course is now definitely more difficult then previous years.

I had a hard time sleeping Saturday night before the marathon (which is unusual for me) thinking I shouldn’t even attempt the marathon considering the projected weather and being a little sick. Since this would be my 6th marathon in 10 months, I wasn’t really rested. My confidence level was a little low since my last two marathons, although on difficult courses, were slower then 4 hours. Given the course was fairly hilly, winds up to 15 miles per hour, light to misty rain, temperatures in the mid 50’s (actually, the 50’s is good for me) and nursing a sore throat; I told my wife to expect me in any time from 3:40 to 4:20 and probably closer to 4 hours.

The hills turned out to be a lot easier then I expected, especially compared to the hills of West Virginia. My throat did not seem to be a problem. I may have been a little weaker since I was a little sick. The rains actually felt good at times, but the wet shoes didn’t help. The winds were no help, but also didn’t seem to be a major problem. Walking 30 seconds at every water station seemed to have conserved some of my energy and I never got to the point where I had to walk. Split times were 7:55, 7:37, 8:12, 7:48, 8:04, 8:04, 8:13, 8:04, 8:39, 8:20, 8:34, 8:14, 8:22 (half marathon split 1:47:00 – 3:34:00 projected finish) 8:16, 8:36, 8:12, 8:40, 8:17, 8:39, 8:29, 8:49, 8:48, 8:38, 8:46, 8:42, 8:40, 1:49. Finishing time was 3:39:45, which is as good a time as I thought possible given all my excuses at noted above. I placed 15 out of 92 in the 50 to 59 year age group. If they had 5-year age groups I would have placed 5th in the 55 to 59 age group. Placed 188 out of 714 finishers. According to the race director, over 800 runners pre-registered. So approximately 100 runners did not finish or decided not to fight the elements.

The course is definitely not scenic with the exception of running through Roger Williams Park from mile 13 to 16. The marathon is very well organized but had a very sparse expo. If you want to run a marathon in Rhode Island, this is the one for you. It’s the only one. If you are not planning to run a marathon in every state but would like to run a fall marathon in New England, there are several other well-organized marathons that are a lot more scenic then Ocean State.

47 marathons completed in 37 states. Next, Oklahoma Marathon, Tulsa Oklahoma on November 23 with Linda Thompson and may be Bob Panzak.

Rest if you must, just don’t quit,
Marty